Continuous yarn treatment process and apparatus



R. H. CARTER Nov. 12, 1968 CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESS ANDAPPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 11, 1966 INVENTOR Ralph H CarterATTORNEYS Nov. 12, 1968 R. H. CARTER CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESSAND APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 11, 1966 INVENTOR Ralph/Carter ATTORNEYS Nov. 12, 1968 H. CARTER 3,409,957

CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESS AND APPARATUS I Filed Aug. 11, 1966 eSheets-Sheet s- INVENTOR Ralph/aware! JAM f ATTORNEYS R. H. CARTER3,409,957

1355 AND APPARATUS Nov. 12, 1968' CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROC 6Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. 11, 1966 INVENTOR Ralph hf Carter ATTORNEYSCONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESS AND APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11, 1966 6Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Ralph H. Car/er ATTORNEYS R. H. CARTER Nov. 12,1968 CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESS AND APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 6Filed Aug; 11, 1966 IOI INVENTOR Ralph H. Carter IOI United StatesPatent 3,409,957 CONTINUOUS YARN TREATMENT PROCESS AND APPARATUS RalphH. Carter, Sanford, N.C., assignor t Northeastern Engineering andDevelopment Co., Inc., Pawtucket,

R.I., a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Aug. 11, 1966, Ser. No.571,759 21 Claims. (Cl. 28-4) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method andapparatus for treating a synthetic and/ or a thermoplastic yarn forproviding a continuous treatment of the yarn in the form that it leavesa spinning or extruding device until the treated yarn is wound upon atake-up package.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating asynthetic and/ or a thermoplastic yarn and more particularly to such aprocess and method and apparatus for providing a continuous treatment ofthe yarn in the form that it leaves a spinning or extruding device untilthe bulked or otherwise treated yarn is wound upon a take-up package.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine orapparatus that uses as a raw material a continuous filament of undrawnyarn in the same form as it leaves a spinning or extruding device andwill heat the yarn to improve its pliability or will draw it at roomtemperature to give it the desired characteristics, after which it willbe pre-heated if desired, before entering a crimping apparatus orbulking device. The bulking apparatus may be a mechanical stufiing boxtype, or a high pressure steam crimping type, or a gear crimping deviceor any other type of device for crimping or entangling for increasingthe bulkiness of the yarn.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a single endor may be multi-end continuous process machine or apparatus for treatinga bundle of filaments or a monofilament, such as yarn or thread, toproduce a yarn of greatly increased dyeability. The invention produces abulky or stretch yarn composed of a plurality of individual crimpedfilaments having random dimensions and configurations and improved leveldyeing characteristics and a fast dye rate.

Artificial filaments are normally produced more easily as continuousfilaments. These continuous filament yarns are very strong because ofthe absence of loose ends that are unable to transmit imposed stresses.Their extreme uniformity and lack of discontinuity, however, makeconventional continuous filament yarns much more compact than yarns madefor instance from out or staple fibers.

The production of yarn from staple fibers is, however, time consumingand requires a complex series of operations to crimp the fibers, alignthe fibers into an elongated bundle and then to draw the bundle tosuccessive smaller diameters. The final spinning operation whichinvolves a high degree of twist finally binds these discontinuous fiberstogether to produce a coherent yarn with considerably increased bulk.The occluded air spaces give them a lightness, covering power and Warmthgiving bulk not normally possible with continuous filament yarn. Thus,to get staple fibers that can be processed on conventional wool orcotton spinning equipment, it has been the practice to cut continuousfilament yarns, such as rayon, acetate, nylon, as well as thepolyacrylic and polyester fibers, to short lengths for spinning intostaple yarns via the cotton or worsted system.

Recent developments in the textile industry have provided useful methodson improving the bulk and covering power and recoverability, elongationof continuous filament yarns Without resorting to the staple spinningsystem of the prior art. A well-known process for making stretch yarnsinvolves the steps of twisting, heatsetting, then back-twisting to a lowfinal twist level. Another yarn of improved bulk, is preparedcommercially by steps of twisting, heat-setting and back-twistingonthe-run using a false twisting apparatus. This end product can befurther modified by hot stretching to improve the bulk and handling.Still another bulk yarn is being prepared by the well-known stuffer boxtechnique wherein the yarn is steamed or otherwise heated or heat-setwhile it is in a compressed state in the stutter box. Another is theso-called blade method where the yarn is drawn over a sharp edge,imparting a crimp to the yarn. All of these yarns of the prior art areproduced by a process which has common elements of deforming the yarnmechanically and then attempts are made to heatset either with orwithout an after-relaxing step.

According to the present invention, there is obtained synthetic organicfilamentary strands having high tenacity and an improved rate ofdyeability which has not been obtained heretofore. These products may beproduced by starting with undrawn synthetic organic filamentary strands,drawing the filament bundle to between 3:1 to 5:1 of its length, thenpassing it to a crimping or bulking device and thereafter to a heatstabilizing unit where the yarn may be stored from 1 to 5 seconds whilebeing heated in a dry heat to a fixation optimum temperatureforexample-nylon 6, C.; nylon 6, 6, 225 C.; polyester, 220 C. Thesetemperatures are standard published figures but may vary Widelydepending on the type of thermoplastic yarn, and the end product forwhich the yarn may be used.

After leaving the heating chamber the strand is then passed tomechanically driven rollers and stored there until the mass reachessubstantially room temperature. The product at this stage of the processpossesses a rate of dyeability about 60% greater than that of yarn thathas not been treated in this manner. By increasing the overfeed, thefilamentary product produced contains, in addition to the high rate ofdyeability set forth above, fibers possessing an independent, randompersistent 3-dimensional nonhelical curvilinear configuration along thelength of the filamentary strand and is substantially free of staplecrunodal, the characteristics of which are dependent on the type bulkingdevice used.

The single or multi-end continuous process and apparatus of thisinvention represent a substantial improvement over known step-wisemethods which consist essentially of equipment for drawing, twisting orwinding, bulking, heat-setting, cooling, adding finish and producing ayarn package ready for subsequent operations. Because of the superiorquality and uniformity of the product produced and also because of thehigh rate of production and loW manufacturing cost which the apparatusmakes possible, a user will have tremendous advantages over a competitorwho uses the step-wise method.

When running single ends through the different stages of the apparatusthere may be slight differences in the yarn from position to position orthese are known in the art as mechanical irregularities, and to producea more uniform product; a number of ends are usually blended together1:2 1:31:4-1:51:6, etc., which results in a product uniformity inrelation to the number of ends blended together. It is common practicein the textile industry to blend like products to get maximumuniformity.

The process and apparatus of this invention can be used to crimp andbulk any natural or synthetic plasticizable filamentary material.Thermoplastic materials such as polyamides, e.g., poly (epsiloncaproamide), poly (hexamethylene adipamide); cellulose esters;polyesters, e.g.,

polyethylene terephthalate, poly (hexahydrop-zylylene terephthalate),etc., polyvinyls and polyacryclics, e.g. polyethylene andpolyacrylonitrile, as well as copolymers thereof can be crimped to givethe three-dimensional random, curvilinear configuration describedherein. While the preferred form of raw material is continuouthermoplastic filaments, the process and resultant improvementsoc.cur.with staple yarns as well. Both types of material can bemade intobulky yarns and fabrics having improved bulk covering power (opacity)and hand.

This apparatus and process of the present invention is useful for bothmonofilament yarns in textile deniers as well as the heavier carpet andindustrial yarn sizes either singly or combined in the form of a heavytow. Fine count and heavy count staple yarns can be processed bothsingles and plied. The process and product are also not restricted inthe case of the synthetic materials to any one particular type offilament cross section. Cruciform, Y-shaped, delta-shaped, ribbon, anddumbbell and other such filamentary cross sections can be processed atleast as well as round filaments and usually contribute still more bulkand resulting covering power than is obtained with round filaments. Byproper design of the bulking device and process, multiple ends of yarnmay be handled either in the form of warp sheets, ribbons, or tows.

The temperature of the heat stabilization zone or medium must beregulated so that the yarn temperatures do not reach the melting pointof the fiber but are in most cases equal to or above the softeningpoint. However, with fibers made from fusible polymers, the mosteffective bulking and the greatest productivity is obtained when thetemperature of the stabilization device is not above the melting pointof the fiber. In this case the yarn speeds residence time in a heatingzone should be great enough so that melting does not occur. Temperatureslower than the second order transition temperature (Tg) of the yarnmaterial should usually not be employed because under these conditionsany crimping or bulking of the filaments is not permanent and utility ofthe fibers is reduced.

The stabilization area may be operated at any temperature up to, butusually not in excess of, the softening temperature of the yarn beingtreated. High rates of yarn throughput must be taken into account whensetting up temperature. The threadline during this string-up on-the-'run"one of the simplest being the use of a sucker gun to take up theyarn while stringing up the angle axis rolls. The use of a drive motorhaving two or more speeds is an advantage because at slow speed thestring up is simpler and there is a corresponding less waste until themachine reaches equilibrium in all its phases.

For high speed operation, it is frequently desirable to preheat the yarnbundle prior to drawing or to its entry into the bulking device of thesubject invention. This preheating can be accomplished by any number ofmeans, one of the simplest being where electrically heated contactheaters are used or the use of a so-called hot pin. Other heating mediasuch as steam, may be used for the preheat'ers can take the form ofheated rolls, hot plates, infrared radiation, and many others commonlyknown in the art. Either heating or post cooling can be utilized on theyarn immediately after it emerges from the crimping device to improvethe crimped or convoluted configuration of the filaments in the yarnbundle. Use of preheating, p'recooling, or a combination depends on thephysical characteristics and fiber morphology of the filament materialbeing treated a well as the finished product desired.

The configuration and accompanying characteristics of yarn treated bythe apparatus of this invention depend in part upon the type of bulkingused. I

It is desirable to have the various surfaces with which the yarn comesin contact made of especially hard material to reduce wear. These yarnsurfaces may be made of high-carbon steel and hard chrome plated orceramic types of material.

As an example when a 12-00 denier/8 filament yarn of polyhexamethyleneadipamide is processed using a device similar to that shown in FIGURE 1,the yarn speed may be in the range of 300 to 1000 meters pm. to give aneffective overfeed, based on feed speed. The bulked yarn product ischaracterized by a'random three-dimensional curvilinear crimp of thetype and the'amplitude, permanence, and number of crimps per unit oflength in the filaments make the yarn particularly suitable for thepurpose intended. I

Another object of the present invention is to provide a continuousprocess for treating. a continuous filament of yarn consisting ofproviding holder or creel means for undrawn yarn and means forfeedingthe undrawn yarn to a suitable pretension device after. which the yarnis fed to hold back roll means. Thereafter the yarn is passed over drawroll means and preheating means after which it is passed into a crimpingdevice. The crimping device is provided with crimp level meanscontrolled by pressure and speed control means. The crimped materialafter'passing out of the crimping device passes overshake-out bars andover-feed means are provided for passing the yarn into a heatstabilizing area or zone at substantially zero tension. Heat stabilizingroll means are provided for passing the yarn through the heatstabilizing area, over-tapered rolls and allowed to shrink topredetermined level after which the yarn is passed out of the heatingchamber to cooling roll means. Thereafter the yarn is passed on tosuitable take-up means for producing a suitable self-supporting packageon a tube member.

Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will bereadily apparent from the following detailed description when consideredin connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof andin which:'

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the continuous treatmentapparatus embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the apparatus of the invention taken along theline 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view of the drive arrangements of the apparatus takenalong line 4-4 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a detailed view of the heat stabilizing rollers shown inFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a view taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a view of the surface heater and draw rolls shown in FIGURE1;

FIGURE 8 is a view taken along the line 88 of FIGURE 7; and

FIGURES 9 and 10 are views of the draw roll assembly embodied in theinvention.

Referring to the drawing (see FIG. 1) the reference numeral 10 generallydesignates a continuous yarn treatment apparatus provided with asubstantially vertical elongated housing 12 having a front wall 14 and abase support member 16. The housing contains the drive mechanism (seeFIG. 4) as described hereinafter and the yarn treating apparatus isdisposed on the wall 14 of the housing.

Disposed within the interior of the housing 12 is a roll of undrawn yarn18, as best seen in FIGURE 2 Which is fed or threaded through an eyeletin the wall 14. The undrawn yarn 18 is disposed on a tube so as to befreely rotatable thereon and is also positioned on the sleeve at an:angle with respect to a horizontal axis through the housing, as bestseen in FIGURE 2. The undrawn yarn after passing through the slot oropening in the wall 14 is carried on a plurality of pretension devicesgenerally indicated at 20 of any well known type so as to maintain atension on the thread. The pretension devices are disposed on wall 14adjacent the lower left side thereof, as best seen in FIGURE 1.

Disposed above the pretensioning devices and on the of the apparatussame side thereof is a pre-finish applicator 22 of wellknownconstruction and above this applicator are complementary holdbackrollers 24 with one roller being disposed vertically above the otherroller or may be horizontal. The hold-back rollers are wrapped a numberof times with the undrawn yarn, and the rollers are also set at a slightangle or have a converging or angle axis which allows the wrapped yarnto travel or move toward the front end of the rollers.

The continuous thread or yarn after leaving the rollers 24 is passedupwardly over a draw pin 26 of well-known construction. This pin isusually spaced vertically above the rollers 24. The yarn is wrapped 300degrees to 720 degrees over the draw pin and the draw pin maybe heatedfor drawing certain types of yarn or a surface heater may be disposedadjacent the draw pin.

After leaving the draw pin 26 the continuous thread or yarn 28 iswrapped around a pair of spaced draw rolls or rollers 30. The rolls 30are carried by an elongated member 32 as best seen in FIGS. 7 and 8. Therolls 30 extend substantially beyond the front surface of the member 32so as to provide sufiicient space between the draw rollers 30 to receivea heater 34 therein. The heater 34 is elongated and is provided withV-shaped notches 36 adjacent its opposite ends and adjacent the drawrollers 30.

The draw rollers 30 and the heater 34 are disposed so as to extend aboveand below the draw pin 26 and to be disposed in spaced relationshiptherewith and to the right thereof. The draw rollers and the heater 34are also disposed at an angle or is diagonally inclined with respect toa vertical axis passing through the housing.

In passing from the hold-back rollers 24 to the draw rollers 30, thedraw ratio of the yarn 28 is established at approximately 4:1. Thisratio may be as much as a plus or minus 75% of the yarn length 28, whenin an undrawn state, so as to give the desired physical prop erties tothe yarn. After the yarn is passed several times around the rollers 30,it is then fed upwardly to the bulking device 38. The crimper device 38is disposed vertically above the upper roller 30 so that the yarn 28 asit comes off of the roller is passed between the crimper rollers 40 and42 and into the transparent tube, glass or plastic chamber of thecrimper device in the tube 44 of the crimper device, the yarn is forcedinto th mass of filaments packed in the chamber, thereby causing the towor yarn to fold over and form fine crimps, the fineness and frequency ofwhich depends upon the nature of the material and the back pressurewhich is maintained in the crimping chamber 44. If the material ispre-heated to or near the softening temperature the crimps will be finerand of greater frequency then if the material is less highly pre-heatedand is stiffer as it is forced into the crimping chamber. The preferredtype crimping device consists of a conventional stuffing box-type ofcrimper with a gravity gate control. The crimped yarn is stored in thevertical transparent tube or chamber 44 and the level of yarn thereinactuates electric eyes 46 of wellknown construction which in turncontrol the speed variations of the speed control device 130, FIG. 4,the component parts of the device by well-known means, not forming theinvention. When the yarn leaves the chamber 44 it is then moved upwardlyover and around spaced shakeout bars 48, to open the crimped filamentsof yarn, which are disposed adjacent the upper end of the wall 14 andwith a middle or central lower bar 48 so as to form a V configuration.The yarn 28 passes over the top of the two upper bars and below themiddle bar 48. There-.

after the drawn and crimped yarn travels downwardly and is wrappedaround tension rolls 50. The yarn then passes downwardly into theheating chamber or housing 54. The heating chamber or housing 54 extendsoutwardly of the wall 14, as best seen in FIGURE 3 and is substantiallyrectangular in configuration and has power driven heater rollers 56disposed therein. The housing 54 is disposed vertically below thetension or over feed 6 rollers 50 and adjacent the crimping device 38.The rollers 56, as best seen in FIGURES 5 and 6 have a larger diameterinner end portion 58 and are tapered to smaller outer end portion 60.Between the spaced rollers 56 is a heater element 62. The heater element62 is provided with the notches 64 adjacent each end thereof and isadapted to fit snugly between the rollers 56. The yarn may be wrappedaround the rollers 56 as it travels through th heater housing asufficient time so that the proper heat is imparted to the yarn. Thusthe yarn is wrapped around the rollers a suificient number of times sothat its path of travel through the housing will give the requiredresidence time at a given temperature and speed to properly stabilizethe yarn at a given rate of speed of the rollers. The rate of speed ofthe entire unit may be within the range of to 1000 meters per minute,depending on the mechanical application of the vital elements of theapparatus and the type of filamentary strands being processed. Thetreated yarn leaves the bottom of the heating housing 54 and is thenwrapped around cooling rollers 66. The cooling rollers 66 are disposeddirectly below the housing 54. The rollers 66 are of the converging orangle axis type, already described in connection with the hold-backrollers 24. An automatic drop wire stop '69 of well-known constructionis provided for stopping the flow of current to the main drive motor andautomatically stopping the entire unit, in case of an interruption inthe thread line. The drop wire 69 is of the conventional type in whichit acts as an electric switch to cut off the power. After passing thedrop wire the drawn yarn is then wound upon a take-up sleeve'70. Thetake-up sleeve 70 is rotated or driven by a surface roller member 72, asbest seen in FIGURE 1 which is of well-known construction and causes theyarn to be wound up on the sleeve 70. A traverse guide 74 of Wellknownconstruction is provided for the take-up device so that the continuouspiece of yarn does not become entangled as it is wrapped up on thesleeve 70.

The drive mechanism consists of an electric motor of well-knownconstruction having a drive sprocket member 74, as best seen in FIGURE4. The driving mechanism is housed in the housing 12 disposed rearwardlyof the wall 14. The electric motor is preferably four speed allowing fora creep type start upon string-up at slow speeds, so as to reduce wasteand allow for easy stringup. Then when all of the phases of the unitreach equilibrium, a conventional time relay or manual switch, notforming part of the invention, may be used to change the machine to theproper running speed. The drive sprocket wheel 74 drives' the jack shaft76 (see FIG. 4), which jack shaft through a belt drives the drive shaft78 of the mechanical crimping device. The mechanical crimping device mayhave any number of arrangements such as rolls and stuifing box, gear orfluted rolls, high pressure steam or any other well-known means ofimparting the so-called crimp or bulk to the yarn. The draw rollers 30are driven by a belt drive through the drive shaft 80. The hold-backrollers 24 are also driven by a drive shaft 82. The tension controlrollers 50 are driven through a belt drive and the drive shaft 84. Theheat stabilizing rolls or rollers 56 are driven by a belt drive throughthe drive shaft 86. The cooling roll drive or rollers 66 are driven by abelt drive through the drive shaft 88. The apparatus may be providedwith a conventional reversing gear indicated at 90. The surface drivemember 72 is rotatably driven by the surface drive shaft 92. Thetraverse drive is driven by a traverse drive shaft. 94.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the draw roll assembly is shown embodied inthe invention and includes power input shaft 101 connected to timer beltpulleys 102 and 103 which drive timer belt pulleys 104 and 105 which aremounted on the end of spindles 106-106. These spindles are carried bybearings 107 and onto the spindles is pressed a godet roller 108. Inorder to cause the thread to travel outwardly on this pair of rolls, awedge shaped washer 109 is used causing the rolls to be mounted on plate110 at an angle to each other.

When the godet 108 operates at comparatively high speeds, 6000 rpm. or1000 meter take up, it has been found good practice to use a two to oneratio between input shaft 101 and the godets proper 108.

The device finish applicator 68 may, as shown in FIG. 1, be a rollercontact or a conventional air spray device containing a high percentageof finish travelling at high velocity so as to be directed against themoving filamentary strands so that the finish is forced against the yarninto a cup shaped container which abruptly changes the direction of themovement of the highly saturated gas or air.

The strand after leaving the treating chamber may then have the correctamount of finish imparted thereon depending on the concentration andvelocity of the finish solution. At overfeeds of between and about 50%.the product still possesses the astonishingly high dyeability rate andtenacity characteristics of the crimped product. At an overfeed of atleast 10% to about 30% the heating elements soften the filamentarymaterial, reducing the energy necessary to accomplish filament crimping.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present inventionprovides a continuous method and apparatus for treating a continuous towof yarn providing many advantages over the prior art.

Inasmuch as various changes may be made in the location and relativearrangements of the parts of the apparatus of the invention, and in thesequence of steps in the process of the invention, it is not meant tolimit the invention except by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of continuous treatment of a filament of undetermined lengthof undrawn yarn comprising the steps of; passing the continuous strandof undrawn yarn to a pre-tensioning device, thereafter passing the yarnover hold back members and then to draw rolls and drawing out thefilaments of yarn to a pre-determined ratio, heating the yarn to anoptimum crimping tempera ture, thereafter crimping the yarn, thenpassing the crimped yarn to shakeout members to open the filaments aftercrimping, then passing the crimped yarn to tensioning means, thenheating said tensioned yarn to the optimum fixation temperature, andthereafter cooling said yarn to below the fixation minimum temperaturebefore subjecting the yarn to the mechanical stresses caused by thetraverse motion of the zero twist take-up or other winding device.

2. The method of claim 1' wherein the undrawn yarn is first passed to aprefinish applicator before being fed to the hold-back members.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the yarn is wrapped around thehold-back members and the draw rolls a predetermined numbers of times.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the draw rolls are spaced apart andsaid yarn encircles the space between the draw rolls, and heat issupplied to the yarn through a heater in said space.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the yarn is fed in an upward directionto said pretensioning device, and in an upward direction from saidhold-back members to said draw rolls.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said yarn is fed in an upward directionfrom said draw rolls to the point of crimping.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the crimped yarn is fed in a downwarddirection to be heated after tensioning, and passes into and through aheating chamber.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said yarn is heated in said chamber bywrapping a number of turns of it around spaced rollers therein, andsupplying heat centrally of the turns.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said heated yarn passes out of thebottom of the chamber and is fed in a downward direction to the point ofcooling.

10. An apparatus for continuous treatment of undrawn yarn ofundetermined length comprising heating means, feed rollers disposedthereon for receiving the undrawn yarn, a pair of draw rollers spacedfrom said feed rollers for receiving said yarn to cause it to be drawn,heating means for heating said yarn when it is drawn to a prede terminedratio, a crimping device positioned to receive drawn yarn from said drawrollers for crimping it, tension rod members positioned to receivebulked yarn from said crimping device, tension control roller meansdisposed to receive said yarn after leaving said rod members, a heatingcompartment positioned to receive an excess amount of over fed yarn fromsaid tension control means, cooling rollers disposed to receive saidyarn from said heating chamber, and yarn take-up means disposed toreceive said yarn from said cooling rollers.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said draw rollers are spaced asubstantial distance from each other to provide a space therebetween,and a heater element is disposed in said space between said draw rollersand forms said heating means.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said draw rollers are positionedabove and to one side of said feed rollers.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said draw rollers are disposed ina vertically inclined direction.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said crimper device is providedwith a lower inlet end vertically above and in alignment with theuppermost of said pair of draw rollers.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said crimper device is providedwith a pair of feed rollers adjacent said inlet and has a verticalchamber extending above its feed rollers.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said heating compartment isdisposed laterally of said crimper device and draw rollers.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said heating compartment isprovided with a pair of spaced rollers therein forming an open areabetween the rollers, and a heating member is disposed between the spacedcompartment rollers for heating yarn wrapped thereon.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said compartment is completelyclosed and has an inlet opening in its top and an outlet opening in itsbottom for passing yarn therethrough.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said cooling rollers are disposedbelow the compartment bottom.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said tension control roller meansare disposed above the compartment top, and below said tension rodmembers.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said take-up means includes awind-up sleeve and a surface roller for engaging yarn strands as it iswound on said sleeve, and said sleeve and surface rollers are disposedbelow said cooling rollers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,099,064 7/1963 Haynes.3,311,961 4/1967 Iwnicki et al. 3,317,977 5/ 1967 Stanley. 3,337,9308/1967 Aelion et al.

LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner.

